Beautiful February Day

View of our Winter garden ...

Agriculture Notes

After encouragement to advocate for Agriculture by posting ag related things daily on 'Social Media', I thought I would add the posts from Facebook on here. Just for your daily ag notes !!
I'll just put a few days worth in each post, and try to put a picture in once in awhile.

My contribution to being a voice for Ag. I just read and article in Progressive Farmer that encouraged everyone in Agriculture to spend 20 minutes a day informing the public. Maybe 2 minutes so y'all don't get bored : )



Friday - Today we sheared our sheep flock. The sheep do not have to die to have the fleece removed !! Shearing the sheep gives them a chance to be cooler in the coming warm days, we hope ! Plus we can inspect them eaier to see when they will lamb, l...ambs can find their meals easier, the ewes will seek shelter to protect them and their lambs when they are sheared. This is controversial as people who shear later in the year say the lambs just snuggle in the ewes fleece, sounds cozy !!


Plus, the wool gets converted into nice, warm yarn to be used to keep people warm. So there you have it, your lesson on the benefits of shearing sheep !!!
Comment from my friend Monica ...The rest of the story is if the ewes still have their fleece on when they lamb they don't give off body heat when the lamb lies next to them their fleece insulates them only. They also have no feeling in their fleece and are more likely to lay on their lambs thus accidentally increasing the mortaliy rate.Pretty interesting !!
Saturday - Ok, my ag moment for today started yesterday >> The broccoli, cauliflower and such is sprouting nicely in my countertop garden. They are planted a bit thick so I was thinning afew yesterday. As they piled up on the countertop, my thoughts were with the people of Japan...
It came to mind that sprouts of broccoli and such were first promoted as food from Japan and the Orient, which made me wish I had container ship loads of sprouts to send those people. But then, again, what do the sprouts taste like anyway, so I bit off a few of the leaf ends and ........ yum !!! A few bites of Cabbage sprouts, some celery and parsley, with a bit of onion sprouts on the side. My health food of the day. Pretty easy and quick food, relatively speaking.
 
Sunday - We have just broken several composting rules in the greenhouse !! 1. Add compost in the fall so it has time to breakdown. We just added it yesterday.2. Compost chicken manure for a long time before using. Just took the chickens out of the g...reenhouse last weekend.


This is the first time the chickens have been in the greenhouse, and the first time we've added compost in any great amount since we built it. I'll keep y'all posted !!!!!! Will anything grow ??
 
Monday - Ag moment of the day - While planting leek seeds today, i was struck that the plants to produce these seeds were started themselves 2 years ago. The leeks overwintered, then flowered the next summer, seeds collected at summer's end, cleaned, sorted, etc and packaged available for sale this year. That's some planning ahead !!

Working on blog

Maybe I can learn how to snazz up my blog so that is functions as farm, family, garden, sheep and product info and news. Could it happen ?? Stay tuned !!!

Here's our latest additions. We bought two piglets from a neighbor, to raise for another neighbor. They have almost doubled in size since they came 3 weeks ago. Hopefully they'll be freezer size by June. Some more "farm to table" business, or maybe its "field to fork" "pasture to pantry", hmm pick your favorite title !

Its fun to have piggies around again. Our oldest daughter will be getting her 4H pigs in another few weeks too.

Fall in Montana. We have more time of dry and snowy grass than green grass !!!

Happy December !!

Well, here it is December. The lambs are grown and sold. Being able to sell lambs was a new and fun experience. Hoping to be able to sell most of the lambs privately next year.
We've been going through the Chicken Pox at our house, all the kids have finally had them. One dd was covered with 100's, the other two kids had 3 each !!!!

I'm getting some Icelandic fleeces ready to get processed into roving. It will be combined with mohair, should be lovely when its done, brown, curly and shiny, much fun. This is a special order for a lady.

Hoping you all are having a great start to Winter !!!

Yikes, -17 degrees this morning !! Thankfully we had to reschedule shearing for this Sunday from 2 weeks ago. The sheep would have really wanted their coats back on today. Shearing is always an interesting time. I get to see the condition of the sheep and see how the feeding has been going. Plus its always fun to see the fleeces. Plus it will be interesting to see how preggers the girls look. All 16 ewes were with a ram, so it could get pretty busy come April. I am excited and a bit anxious about the Shetland x BFL lambings. Hoping and praying for the right preparedness and smooth lambings.

Thankfully the temps this weekend are supposed to be in the 40's, hopefully that means a warming trend.

After shearing is done, I plan to get the greenhouse going. Someof the seedlings inside will want to get into some real dirt pretty soon. There is Bok Choy, parsley, 3 kinds of lettuce, 3 kinds of tomatoes, plus thyme and savory. This weekend I'll probably start a zucchini and cucumber plant for the greenhouse.

chokecherries

On Thursday I had a chance to pick some chokecherries at last. The season is about over for them, I think. Usually the bears and birds have gotten them all by Labor Day. This year must be a bumper crop. It was interesting to observe the bushes where I was picking. The first bush was along my friends driveway, in a sort of windbreak of many different bushes. The berries were pretty ripe, not real full along the branch though. And the strands were only about 2 berries thick.

Then this huge propane truck started up her driveway, so I had to move the van so it could get by. I picked a while more, then the propane truck came by again on its way out. So I just drove down the road a bit to a big shed on their ranch. Right along the fence was a lone chokecherry bush. It was loaded beyond normal loading with chokecherries ! Each strand of berries was a huge handful. In no time my bucket was full enough and I headed home.

This made me think about how us people are. How much we often struggle against loneliness and want to be with our friends. The bush that grew in a group was way less productive than the loner. Plus the lone bush had a stronger trunk from weathering the weather (so profound !!) than the one in the windbreak. I was encouraged to think about gathering strength during alone times, instead of struggling against loneliness. I think there is a difference between loneliness and being alone.

I usually like being out by myself with the critters, rubbing my sheepies chins, watching the piglets play, harvesting the garden and such. The times I struggle with loneliness are usually when self pity is knocking at my door. Thankfully at times like this, I can remember my friend Jesus, who sticks closer than a brother. Not that i always remember, sigh.

wow, finally did it

Well, here is my first blog. Hmmm, hope to write about our sheep adventures, family escapades, possibly some thoughts. Hoping to find ways to connect to family and other folks of like interests.

We have Shetland sheep, plus one BFL ram for crossbreeding. Plus a big garden, 3 kids, hubby's ranch. I am working on establishing priorities and picking one art type activity between quilting, spinning, dying wool / yarn, knitting and painting. I'd much rather do the extra curricular activities than the core ones !!!!

Tuning in, Jean P.